Garden Detective

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Click photo for a step-by-step demonstration

Ewww. Aphids.

Here are some common pests that can interfere with happy tomato gardening endeavors, along with the best ways to deal with them.

Aphids

Wash aphids off with as hard a stream of water as the leaves and stem can handle. If you need to pull out the big guns, order up some lady bugs. They'll keep aphids in check.

Colorado potato beetle

These are best picked off by hand. Squash beetles, eggs and larvae.

Cutworms

Keep weeds in check to discourage their presence. Use cardboard collars around new transplants to protect their vulnerable lower stems.

Flea beetles

Row covers will protect transplants, but need to be removed before temperatures get too hot. Keep the bed clear of weeds to reduce populations.

Tomato hornworms

Usually kept in check by natural enemies, but if you hand pick larvae you'll nip them in the bud, so to speak.

Whiteflies

Your best defense against whiteflies is a good offense. Carefully check plants for infestation before purchasing.

I was wondering if Newsday is going to have another Great Long Island Tomato Challenge this year. If I have a contender, where and when should I bring it? -- Harold Politano, Deer Park

I've gotten nearly a dozen e-mails just like yours, Harold, and I don't even have flowers on my tomato plants yet. So, yes, back by reader demand, the second annual Garden Detective Great Long Island Tomato Challenge will take place at 7 p.m. Aug. 22.

Give your plants lots of TLC over the summer and bring your heaviest fruit to Newsday headquarters (235 Pinelawn Rd. in Melville) for an official weigh-in. I'll be on hand to weigh each tomato personally, a photographer will capture the moment, and light refreshments will be served.

Winner gets a handshake, my admiration and their story and picture in an upcoming issue of Newsday and here on the Garden Detective blog - oh, and the satisfaction of being crowned Tomato King or Queen.

In the meantime, keep your stories, tomato-growing strategies and photos coming to me at jessica.damiano@newsday.com.

Deer, long a fixture (and sometimes a problem) in Suffolk County gardens, have been working their way into Nassau.

We're trying to track their migration. Have you spotted any west of the Suffolk-Nasau border?

Help us chronicle their impact by sharing your photos at newsday.com/deer.

Whether you're planting a container, bordering your garden or filling in blanks among perennials, annuals are a no-brainer. They grow fast, bloom long and are among the easiest garden quick fixes available. Here are 8 of my favorites this year. All are widely available.

Click photo to start the slideshow

Well, the first day of summer 2008 is tomorrow. It's also the longest day of the year, when the sun hangs directly overhead in the Tropic of Cancer. Plus, we're in the glow of a full moon. Triple score.

Summer just plain makes me happy. There's no other way to say it, aside from that perhaps I suffer from a form of seasonal affective disorder in the winter. My mood really gets a lift when I'm out in the sunlight. It's a primitive, sunlight-exposure thing, I guess. Plus, the bold display of colors spilling out of my garden this time of year also makes me happy.

And we humans aren't the only ones who appreciate extended sunlight. In parts of Alaska, because most of the 24-hour period is bathed in sunlight this time of year, plants rally take off, growing at more than twice the rate of what we consider a "normal" day here on Long Island. So I'm sure the longer day tomorrow -- though barely noticeable to us -- will give our plants a little boost, too.

The sun is in the Tropic of Cancer, and my Zodiac sign is Cancer, so maybe that's why I love summer so much. And as each year goes by, I have less and less tolerance for the cold. Plus, the summer seems to slip by more and more quickly each year. Where is the justice?

&%$#@ Squirrels!

They do it every year. I don't mind sharing, but they're like toddlers who've just acquired a box of chocolates, biting into one piece, abandoning it and taking another. Take one and finish it. Sheesh.

This heirloom tomato is new to me, but I received four plants as a gift today while volunteering at the Cornell Cooperative Extension. I was there for a Beautification Committee meeting. In everyday speak, that means I was pulling weeds for 2 hours.

In any event, I'm looking forward to planting these tomatoes, which couldn't have come at a better time, what with the early demise suffered by their predecessors. It's a little late to plant, but in 85-90 days, say around Sept. 15, I hope to be drizzling them with olive oil.

Lycopersicon esculentum promises 10-12 ounce dark reddish-brown beefsteak tomaotes. Most tomatoes I've encountered have been red, aside from the ones that disappear into the black hole at the back of my refrigerator. When discovered, those are often green and black, but I digress.

They're said to have gotten their name from their land of origin, the Island of Krim (or the Crimean Peninsula) in the Black Sea off the Ukraine.

I don't have any photos of this one, but you can check out their freaky good looks here.

Of the 6 freaky tomato seedlings I planted last week, only one has survived. I noticed this morning that it has sprouted two tiny little leaves. It just might make it.

In the meantime, Matt Ippolito, a reader who was a top contender in last year's "Garden Detective Great Long Island Tomato Challenge," sent me an email:

"Some info to pass along on your tomato seed sprouting question-----------

http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PPDL/weeklypics/3-3-03.html

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/57/Surprises-In-Snacks"

Apparently, Bernadette isn't the only one to have stumbled across a sprouting tomato. There still doesn't seem to be an adequate explanation for it, just evidence that it sometimes happens. Hmmm.

In the meantime, all my in-ground tomato plants might have suffered a tragic fate, but the four I have growing in Earth Boxes are taking off like crazy.

The box on the right contains contains the Earth Box organic mixture, lime and fertilizer; the one on the left has standard issue stuff. Aside from health benefits, I'm curious to see if there's any difference in the way the plants develop. So far, no.

They're all just about ready for staking now. Problem is, the Earth Box staking system is prohibitively expensive, so I'm going to try to improvise with stakes and string or something. Any ideas?

OK -- so I just heard from Bernadette. Here are the details concerning the freaky tomato:

"It was sitting on my kitchen table in a ceramic bowl for over a month and I have been ignoring it. I decided to feel it last Saturday morning, in the dark. Thinking that I would have to get rid of a rotten tomato. Instead, I felt this firmness and tiny bumps, which scared me some, so I turned the lights on and you know the rest."

So this was a store-bought tomato (obviously, because we won't be seeing any backyard-grown ones for at least another month) and it wasn't like this when she purchased it. Somehow it sprouted at room temperature after sitting around awhile.

Explanations? Anybody?

So when John came home tonight, naturally I showed him the tomato.

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked. "Plant the sprouts?"

Great idea! That'll make for a great experiment, especially in light of the recent tomato plant tragedy over here at the Damiano house.

So I spent my evening separating pulp from sprouts, rinsing and planting. (Alright, not my whole evening. I also cooked dinner, helped my daughter with her Latin America project on Costa Rica, watched half of "The Song Remains the Same" and spent 1 1/2 hour in the driveway with John, who was trying to get my car's dead battery started, to no avail.)

Aren't they cute? Notice the little roots on the ends. I wonder if they'll grow...

I'll keep you posted.

When you're the garden columnist for a daily newspaper, you hear all sorts of things.

One woman once told me about a problem with a tomato plant that didn't produce tomatoes, only yellow flowers, which were diligently removed because they were "ugly." A coworker complained about a grape vine that for years has produced tons of grapes that never, ever ripen. All the usual suspects, sun, etc., apparently aren't the problem. Reporters and editors and photographers and artists approach me at work with their questions. I like to help, especially if I know the answer. But sometimes, I'm just stumped.

When I got into the newsroom this morning, I found a "gift" left on my desk by my friend Bernadette. It was one of the weirdest things I'd come across, even though I can pretty much figure out what's going on. I don't have the back story because I wasn't in the office yesterday when she left it, and she was out today. Check this thing out:

There are tiny pin-prickly things just below this tomato's skin, and running my finger over them reveals there's some pressure in there, like they're just waiting to burst out, Alien style. Some already have emerged, and they look like -- sprouts.

Could the tomato's seeds actually have germinated and sprouted from within the tomato? I brought that baby home with me tonight so I could investigate further.

Then, on the way home, some idiot driving perpendicular to me runs a stop sign, forcing me to slam on my brakes and sending everything on my front passenger seat hurling to the floor. The tomato, which was overly ripe, smashed open, spewing juice on the carpet, my backpack, my canvas lunch tote, cell phone, water bottle and travel mug. So I don't travel light. Don't judge me.

Anyway, when I got home and looked at the smashed specimen, its insides were revealed:

Freaky, right? Here, take a closer look:

So I cut it in half to get an even closer look:

It's clearly a case of the seeds sprouting. This tomato wanted to give birth. I wonder what would have happened if it had remained on the vine.

Anyone have a clue what's going on here?

Click photo for a step-by-step slideshow:

Click photo for a step-by-step demonstration

Here are some great container plants to play around with:

Thrillers

Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum')

New Zealand flax (Phormium)

Fern

"Spike” plants

Cana

Angelonia

Ti plant (Cordyline)

Dwarf banana (Musa)

Ornamental millet (Pennisetum glaucum)

Coral bells (Heuchera)

Fillers

Coleus

Begonia

Impatiens

Lantana

Allysum

Zinnia

Marigold (Calendula)

Wave Petunia

Geranium (Pelargonium)

Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)

Spillers

Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas)

Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia)

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)

Trailing petunia (Calibrachoa)

Fuchsia

Ivies

Vinca

Lobelia

Verbena

Spiderwort (Trades.cantia)

Inchplant (Tradescantia zebrina)

You take pictures of your plants. Admit it. If you're reading this blog, you definitely have a few photos of flowers and vegetables tucked away on your hard drive. And if it were socially acceptable, you'd whip 'em out of your wallet and display them at the office alongside those of the kids.

But, alas, most people at the office wouldn't understand.

Fear not the man in the white coat, my friend, you're among like-minded lunatics. And the Knock Out rose people, Conrad-Pyle, are having a photo contest that's right up our... allee, searching for the most creative uses of Knock Out roses.

I have 17 of those beauties myself, mostly "red," though I'm sure you know what the plant tag calls "red" actually is more like a hot pink. Just look how cute she looks nestled around those Allium 'Globemasters.' She looks just like her daddy, doesn't she?

The contest runs June 1 through October 31; enter at theknockoutrose.com.

Grand prize is $350 plus 5 Knock Out roses and 10 companion plants. Runners up get $150 plus 5 Knock Outs.

Sweet.

So I was riding on the LIRR with my daughter's Girl Scout troop and a bunch of other moms yesterday, heading into the city to see Stomp (again), when my friend Robyn starts telling me about a magazine she received in the mail that she never subscribed to.

That sort of thing has happened to me, too. I once got Parents magazine for an entire year, without asking for it -- or paying for it. Weird.

But this is even weirder. Robyn tries to tell me that the name of the magazine is --

OK sit down. No really, sit down. And make sure you have a cold glass of water nearby. You might need it.

The name of the magazine is "Garden and Gun."

I laugh and tell her I know she's pulling my leg, but Robyn sticks to her story. Now I was sure this was one of those instances when your friend tries to convince you of something you know must be a joke, and then just when you start to believe her, she yells, 'Gotcha!'

But the 'Gotcha!' never came. She went on to describe how one page of the magazine talks about composting, and the next profiles different rifles available on the market.

Robyn was appalled that anyone would even think of combining something like gardening, which nurtures nature, with something like guns, which, well, destroys nature. I still didn't believe her, but I joked about how it would be an economical way for a household to subscribe to magazines. One stop shopping: Gardening for her, hunting for him, all between the same two covers.

We arrived home at around 9 PM, and at about 9:30 my doorbell rang. It was Robyn with the magazine. "I knew you didn't believe me," she said. "I had to prove it to you."

And right there on the cover, under the big, bold title "Garden & Gun," it got even weirder: "21st Century Southern America"

Now, granted, I'm a Yankee. Born and raised in New York City. So maybe I don't have my finger on the pulse of 21 Century Southern America. So, help me out here. Could this really be it?

... and now they're all dead.

Damn dog.

Yesterday's column was about birds. So it's kind of eerie that yesterday a Levittown woman was led out of her house in a hazardous materials suit and brought to the hospital, where she was found to be infested with bird mites.

Her chest and pelvis are covered with the mites, which look like tiny, crawling black specks. Ordinarily, they live in bird droppings. But somehow they made it into her second-floor bathroom, outside of which birds apparently were nesting in a vent.

I'm so incredulous, I'm totally speechless. I can't even comment on it. But, according to birdmites.org, this isn't as rare an occurrence as you might think.

"I feel biting, just like someone pricking you with a needle, and you can feel them crawl, like a piece of hair is tickling you," the woman said from her hospital room yesterday. And now she's complaining of unrelated chest pains. I'm getting chest pains just thinking about it.

Before planting anything (perennials, vegetables, trees, shrubs, etc.), it's important to make sure the soil in the area is suitable, as each plant has specific pH requirements. Readings of 7.0 are neutral. Readings above 7.0 indicate alkaline soil. Those below 7.0 are acidic. Soil on Long Island is generally acidic, so many plants will require amendments such as lime to thrive.

Click photo for a step-by-step slideshow

Vegetables thrive best in soil with a pH of 6.2-6.8; Lawns prefer 6.3-6.7, but should do fine anywhere in the 6.0-7.0 range; herbs like things neutral, around 7.0, but most can handle 6.5.

Photos by my very talented daughter, Justine.

I just planted 6 of these brightly colored Iresine herbstii, aka Blood Leaf, in a shady spot in the backyard.

Blazin' Lime will grow about a foot tall and a foot and a half wide. Though they're still babies, those lime and cream variegated leaves jump out from red stems and really brighten up the spot. I placed them next to Ligularia. Sometimes I really mess things up and have to dig up and rearrange later in the season, but I'm pretty sure I won't be doing that here. What a great combo!

The Iresine should hang around straight till frost, and will tolerate sun if you have it but the color probably won't be as bright.

Use them in containers, too.

It's summer vacation time! Gradually begin moving houseplants outdoors for the season, starting with an hour the first day and increasing exposure to eight hours over the course of a week to get them accustomed to their new digs.

Then you can leave them out day and night until autumn, but you'll likely have to adjust your watering schedule to account for the drying hot summer sun as well as the rain.